Wisconsin Recall Election

The nation's most interesting election news today will be in Wisconsin, where recall elections are being held. Today's recall efforts are against six Republican state senators. Next week, recalls will be held against two Democratic senators.

The ability of voters to "recall" elected officials before end of term was part of a package of reform measures advocated by Populist and Progressive groups in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The package usually included initiative, referendum, recall and direct election of US Senators. A related effort sought nomination by primary elections.

The reform package achieved support in some areas of the country not usually thought of as especially progressive. Mississippi voters, for example, adopted a constitutional amendment for initiative, recall and referendum in 1914. The state supreme court promptly declared the constitutional amendment unconstitutional.

Nearly three years ago a local resident inquired of the Pamlico County Board of Elections what the procedure was in North Carolina to remove me and other Oriental commissioners from office by recall. The answer was: there is no such procedure.

That's about to change. During the current session of the NC legislature, local bills have been ratified establishing recall procedures in Oak Island, Topsail Beach, Belhaven and Burke (school board). Who knows where that will lead?

A Salute to Service of a Special Kind

Received last weekend:

Subject: Fw: Salute to the SEALS
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2011 22:50:58 -0400

Some of you may have been fighter pilots, others have known them. A brash group of people. I know a few of the younger tribe and they do very well. In particular there is one guy who was CO of the TOPGUN School and retired after 25 years of fulsome service. He wrote the following praise about the SEALS. Do read it. I’ve Met Them By lex, on August 6th, 2011 I don’t believe I ever met any of the fallen heroes from DevGru. I don’t know their names, have not seen their faces. They shun recognition from anyone not of their tribe, knowing that no one not of them can appreciate what they have gone through, what they have accomplished, what they have been forced to do. But I have met them, or men like them. I also know fighter pilots, know them well. They give pride of place to few, their arrogance is legendary, even if overblown by those who envy their accomplishments. I’ve known fighter pilots who can make an airplane sing, who can turn the turbulent world of air combat into an operatic ballet, with themselves as the conductor. Knowing every beat and stanza, placidly certain of the denouement. But I never knew a fighter pilot who in his most private self would not tip his head to those few, those noble few, who are qualified to bring death to our nation’s foes by sea, air and land. I never knew an admiral I respected more as a man than a second class petty officer SEAL. I believed that if I had played the game the way it was meant to be played, and caught a few lucky breaks, I might have made flag rank. I know that I do not have now, and never did have, what it takes to be a Navy SEAL. The selection process is rigorous, the training syllabus withering. You may think you have what it makes to be a member of the teams. But if the instructional staff has doubts about your intelligence, your dedication, your ability to work as a member of a team, your physical stamina and endurance, you are done. There is no court of secondary appeal. And when they have decided that you do not have what it takes to make the grade, to fight alongside their beloved brothers in arms, you will leave thinking it was your decision. You will ring the bell and be grateful. For those few who make the cut, those who get to wear the Budweiser, the real challenges are yet to come. The challenge now is not to make the cut, it is not to grasp the intricacies of advanced training. The challenge is to go to places so utterly foreign, and fight foes so thoroughly implacable that to take the mission is to willingly part with all that you have, and all that you love, and place everything in the balance in a desperate gamble. You will be expensively and thoroughly trained, of course. You will have practiced until your motions seem involuntary. You will have in your company men who know, trust and love you in their own rough way. You will have certain knowledge of the justice of your cause, and the depravity of your enemy. But you will also know that fate plays its own games as you feel the beat of your own heart in your breast, knowing – as young men should never have to know – that when you’re on a mission, the next beat is not promised. Knowing that the fog of war is ineluctable, no matter your training, experience and skill. Knowing that things can and will go wrong. And you go anyway. Night after night, week after week, taunting fate. You go knowing that it is not merely your own life that trembles in the balance, but the lives of those you love, and who depend upon you. You go knowing that there is something more important even than those things: It is the idea we as a nation represent, whose best exemplification is those you fight alongside. You do not dwell on it, nor do you wear it on your sleeve. But it is there nonetheless. I know this because I have met them. They are as humble in their public presentation as fighter pilots are ostentatiously obnoxious. A fighter pilot may feel that he has something to prove, a SEAL knows that he does not. At least not before mere mortals. The only beings that a SEAL feels obligated to prove himself to are his God and his teammates. And in the places that they insert themselves, God is rarely in the room. Privation instead, and hardship. Monastic devotion to fitness, warrior prowess and to each other. Long days of preparation and rehearsal. Slow, creeping hours of approach to contact and moments of fierce combat. Expecting no quarter, and giving little. Living in each moment while knowing that each could be the last. Buttressed by the man to your left or right. Face forward to the foe. Fight and win, or fight and die. No ejection seats. We had a tradition at TOPGUN of instructor staff leaving something for those they leave behind. One officer left a plaque which read, “For those who know, no explanation is necessary. For those who don’t, no explanation is possible.” Amen.

Cheers!

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Or: The Rooster

V.P. Ferguson was, to say the least, an unconventional student.

He arrived at the University of Mississippi from Columbus in the early 1950's and became a legend in his own time. He was especially renowned for a touch of irreverence. He was said to have hung a copy of Sallman's Head of Christ on the wall in his dormitory room, but replaced the eyes with a doll's glass eyes that were wired to follow a visitor as he moved about the room.

A talented musician, V.P. organized a dance band, whose jazz repertoire included a version of "The Little Brown Church" and other jazzed up hymns, arousing disapproval in some circles.

One year, V.P. was upset that the University increased dormitory rent. He refused to pay the rent, instead pitching a tent nearby. One morning, he arose just before official sunrise and put his trumpet to his lips. Just as the sun peeked above the horizon, he played a rousing fanfare, and announced to the gathered audience: "and now, courtesy of V.P. Ferguson, I present - the Sun!"

I just learned that V.P. Ferguson passed away last year in Paris, where he had lived on the Left Bank for many years as a science fiction writer.

Does Anyone Understand What's Going On?

I've been working on a hypothesis, but I'm having trouble making it testable.

You may recall that while no scientific hypothesis can be proven, it can be tested to see if it can be disproven. My hypothesis is that the world is run by fools. I'm having trouble formulating it in a way that can be disproven.

It would be simpler to form a hypothesis that most TV announcers, analysts and commentators don't know what they are talking about, especially (but not only) concerning economics.

This evening we were told by ABC that Standard and Poors' downgrade of the US Government's debt rating caused the stock market fall and that the remedy is to get Congress back and do more cutting of expenditures.

Wrong!

If S&P's action had any effect at all, it should have driven up interest rates on US Government T-Bills and Bonds, as lenders insisted on a higher rate as a cost of borrowing. In fact, the rates have gone down, indicating a flight of capital into the very instruments S&P downgraded. The world still sees US Treasuries as the safest harbor for capital.

So what did cause the fall in the stock market? Evidence suggests that after last week's debt limit deal, some investors recognized that the deal included no measures to increase aggregate demand or otherwise get a sluggish economy moving. Furthermore, it appeared politically impossible to take any positive action because of Republican intransigence.

It may be that program trading caused even more of a decline.

What I heard on ABC tonight was pretty consistent with Paul Krugman's description of the prevailing "stupid narrative." Here it is:

"August 8, 2011, 2:51 pm

The Downgrade Doom Loop

It’s not the whole story, but something like this threatens to develop:

1. US debt is downgraded, sparking demands for more ill-advised fiscal austerity

2. Fears that this austerity will depress the economy send stocks down

3. Politicians and pundits declare that worries about US solvency are the culprit, even though interest rates have actually plunged

4. This leads to calls for even more ill-advised austerity, which sends us back to #2

Behold the power of a stupid narrative, which seems impervious to evidence."

This isn't rocket science, but it IS very different from managing a household budget.

First: Spend money to put people back to work. That will actually reduce the budget deficit in the short to mid term.

Then: Fix the long term problem by paying for the programs the people want!

I say: let the Bush tax cuts expire - if need be, for everyone.

Town Dock II

Oriental's town manager submitted a grant proposal last Friday seeking Boating Infrastructure Grant funds to use in addition to town funds for a new town dock at the foot of South Avenue.

This proposal will make best use of the end of the town's right of way leading to the harbor. It represents the culmination of the effort to reestablish public access to public trust waters and protect public use of this area.

There is no guarantee that the grant will be awarded, but initial reaction seems positive.

An ancillary benefit of the town's request for a CAMA permit for the pier, is that the permit will also be issued to cover a bridge over the upper reaches of Whittaker Creek to be used for a bicycle/golf cart path connecting White Farm Road with the village of Oriental. Such a connection was included two years ago in the Comprehensive Transportation Plan for Pamlico County.

The Town of Oriental needs to have its own Comprehensive Transportation Plan in order to seek DOT funds for bicycle and pedestrian paths.

By the way, the town's new Gator will make it possible for public works personnel to access the proposed path for maintenance.

Keep up the good work!

Austerity Advice

Here's a graphic survival guide from the New York Times for our coming period of austerity.

Gator Aid

I've been reading up on the John Deere Gator line of utility vehicles.

Those who attended last week's meeting of Oriental's Town Board learned of the town's recent purchase of a John Deere Gator utility vehicle. As we learn more about the vehicle, I think we will conclude that it is the right size and mix of capabilities to expand the ability of our public works department. It is also likely to save money. Just using it as the vehicle for reading meters will result in a substantial fuel savings.

And it does so much more. It is a dump truck. It can tow a 1500 pound trailer. It goes off road and can access areas requiring maintenance that are inaccessible by our current pickup trucks.

I think it will be a force multiplier for Public Works.

Coburn: Destroy to Save

In a 1968 report by AP correspondent Peter Arnett concerning the fate of Ben Tre, a provincial capital of Viet Nam, an unnamed major observed that "to save the town it became necessary to destroy it."

This sort of logic happens in war. Senator Coburn of Oklahoma, in concert with Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, has brought the concept to Medicare.

Last month the two senators joined in an effort to reduce medicare benefits in an effort to "save" the program. Once they get through "saving" it, though, it will not be possible to see the existing program through the rubble.

I remember last summer during a series of town meetings, one Republican critic of health care reform shouted: "keep the government's hands off my Medicare." I join in that sentiment.